What the Yankees Teach Us About Life.com

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

September 9, 2006Once we got invited to go the Boston Red Sox game in Boston when they were playing the Yankees. Naturally, we said yes. So, he asked us to come down and visit the next day. He got us a hotel; Paula and I. He put us up for the night in Boston. So the next day we go down to his office. Then he gives me one of those registered drawings of Reggie Jackson. The guy knew how to take care of people.

First of all, I had never been to a game in a sky box. You know sky box? Twenty people fit in the sky box.

We were like the first ones there, right? We’re in this thing and it is freezing. I’m like, “oh man, we’re freezing to death.” The guy comes and he pulls the windows, they slide right open. So the air conditioner is on and they got the windows wide open.

It was great food. Everything you want. Not bad, right? And the best thing about it was it was the last game. Yankees had won four games from the Boston Red Sox, and this was the fifth game. They won the fifth game. So I was real happy.

The guy’s night was not so happy, because he’s a Boston Red Sox fan to begin with. Can you picture this? Pay all this money. Real nice guy.

Anyways, so I say, “Geeze, I feel a little bad that the Red Sox lost and all that stuff. That’ll teach you to be a Boston fan.” Anyway, the guy’s got a good sense of humor.

The point I want to make is we’re walking out of the stadium, it’s night, right? So, we’re walking up the street, people are coming out of the stadium, and you’re not paying any attention, conversations are going. And all of a sudden there’s this conversation going on with a young lady, probably in her mid twenties early thirties, and she is cutting somebody up unbelievable.Complain, complain, complain, complain. And I couldn’t believe the stuff she was saying about the person. “I can’t believe…disgusting.. the worst…”

You know, you’re not paying attention to the conversation but you’re picking up certain words. You don’t want to listen in. Then all of a sudden you go, I want to listen in. True? So all of a sudden, it’s going and I heard, “Yankee fans are the worst fans in the world.”

And she goes on. And the venom that’s coming out of this girl’s mouth is actually unbelievable. You’d think she was about the Taliban. I swear. And she’s going and going and going and going.

I go, I got to see what this person looks like, right? I’m listening to how she is so upset. Now naturally, they lost five games, right? To the Yankees. And she is so upset and I turn around, I want to see who she was. Very attractive young lady with a young man who’s trying to quiet her down. You know when you try to quiet somebody down, and they don’t want to be quieted down, they get louder and louder. That’s what was going on. Anyway, she’s going “Yankee fans, they’re the worst fans in the world, they’re lowlifes. They’re scum.”

I mean, every derogatory thing that you could think about saying about somebody you hate with a passion was coming out of her mouth. And you think she would stop? We’re walking quite a way to get to the end, and she’s going and going and going, and going. She was like the Eveready battery. She would not stop. And finally, they’re walking to the other side of the street, but she’s still going. Upset about how terrible us Yankee fans are.

“And they’re ALL the same!” That was the one that really got me.

Now we get up to the end of the street, and they’re selling the T-shirts. Here are the T-shirts: “Jeter sucks.” Next shirt: “A-Rod sucks.” There wasn’t one shirt up there with Boston. There wasn’t a Boston shirt. You couldn’t get somebody, you know, like Ortiz. They weren’t up for sell. All the negative stuff about the Yankees. It was hate the Yankees. And I’m realizing that in the stadium, every time Johnny Damon got up to bat, who used to play for the Red Sox, it was like, “BOO!” Not giving him a break.

Now here’s the thing I want to tell you. I’ve been to Yankee stadium many, many, many times. And I’ve seen them play many teams. I’ve never once seen them say, whoever that team player was, they suck they’re no good. Never. No negative. You may get somebody every once in a while they get up and they boo, like you hear that, but not this constant everything is boo, boo, negative.

Why am I telling you this? They’re very unhappy. Like upset. You go, this is unbelievable. This isn’t life and death. This is a game. This is about people playing the game making millions of dollars, and we’re there supporting them playing the game. Get this? I’m saying, what in the world? Your world’s got to be that small that that’s the thing in the world that upsets you? The Yankees beating the Red Sox?

We All Get RighteousNow, we all do this, right? Where we get upset about something. We’ve got the right to be upset. Except when you start thinking about it you go like, how ridiculous is it? I mean, I really was, “Oh my God. How ridiculous.”

“Oh my God, no wonder people kill people and are willing to go to war with people.” Because the belief systems automatically run you, and it’s the truth. All the Yankee fans are the most nasty, terrible people that ever walked the face of the earth.

What do you think? Is that where you play? Is that your assessments, judgments and evaluations – your righteousness keeps killing off what could be for you?

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

September, 2007. The Yankees are playing the Red Sox. The score is 2 to 7. It’s been 2 to 7 almost the whole game. We’re in the top of the eighth inning. I’m totally disgusted.

The Red Sox are winning and I’m going, I can’t believe this. They’re going to win. Then they’re going to pull five games ahead.

So the Yankees get up. Home run. The next batter gets up. Home run. Two home runs in a row. Boom, boom. But that’s still only four runs. 4 to 7.

Boom, they get on first. Boom, man on second. Nobody’s out. Somebody gets up and hits a home run. The score went from 2 to 7, to 4 to 7, to 7-7. I’m going, my word! All of a sudden it was 7-7.

Then all of a sudden Jeter’s up there and he’s at bat. Now, they give the signal. Every goddamn pitch the catcher for the Red Sox runs out on the field, talks to the pitcher, then they come back in. And then he throws the ball. Next pitch, back out there. You know how long it was taking for a pitch? Like five minutes. They were having a conversation. The umpire would come up, they would walk away. I say, “I hope this kid hits one out of the park to get these nasty bastards.”

They were trying to tick him off. And you can see Jeter puts a smile on his face. I think the count finally ended up 3 to 2, then sinks like a ball. Pow! Home run. It was phenomenal.

I went, “Freaking A, Jeter, way to go!”

Anyway, so now it’s 8 to 7, then the Red Sox get up and what do you think happens? They got a couple men on, but they didn’t score. They got up in the ninth, but nothing else. It was Fenway Park, Yankees win. The Yankees didn’t give up.

Never give up, that’s what I got. When it looks like you’re not going to win the game. When it looks like it’s hopeless. When it looks like the odds are against you. When it looks like you could never, never win. Don’t give up. Stay in action.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

“I believe that I’m not going to get the results.” Guess what, you’re not going to get the results.

“I believe I look good.” You got that result.

What you believe you manifest. The Yankees have an absolutely unbelievable baseball team. All the players on that team are absolutely extraordinary. It’s like they cannot lose a game. They’ve got hitters, pitchers, they got short stop, second base, etc. They’ve got people to replace people. They’ve got an unbelievable baseball team.

Guess what? They go on a losing streak at the beginning of the 2007 season. Lose, lose, lose, lose, lose. Losing all the time. They were in last place. How do you have a team that’s got the best players in baseball and be in last place? This is about what you believe.

The $-Road to Riches-$®* was nothing. There was no course, the $-Road to Riches-$. The $-Road to Riches-$ was all just a stand for what I say. And then it became a course. Is it going the way I want it to go? No. But it’s going. Out of nothing.

I operate in a context. I say who I am is how I operate. Not who I am is “I’m a good person.” Who I am is how I operate.

*The $-Road to Riches-$® is a proprietary financial freedom course created by Richard Giannamore and offered live and via teleconference nationwide. Call 1-800-922-3210 x112 for more information.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

You have to understand the game totally and completely so you don’t get knocked out. When you understand the game totally and completely you won’t get knocked out. You don’t understand the game totally and completely you will get knocked out. Okay?

That’s the way is it in life. It’s the natural order of things. It isn’t going the way I want it to go, it doesn’t look the way I want it to look, hell, I might as well quit. Who am I kidding? Now especially, when you go out and confront yourself and then you lose – you don’t get the results you want, that’s when you KNOW you’ve got to quit.

And it’s not like you’re different than the rest of us, you’re not, you’re exactly the same! This is an important conversation. Most of us have “I’m different, you don’t understand. If you understood who I was or what I was going through, you wouldn’t be saying the things you’re saying.”

No, I’m sorry, we’re all human beings and we’re all in the same boat and there are certain things that we’re going to operate totally the same. Always. To the degree that we operate that way, that’s another story. But we are! And once you understand we’re in the same boat you can get the game, and you can win.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

From: October 7, 2006The Yankees piss me off sometimes. You look and you go, here’s a team that should win every game that they play. Who they have in the batting order and everything else – they should win every game.

Then they get to the 2006 playoffs and they lose. It pissed me off. Every time they get in the playoffs, they’re nonchalant. It’s like they should win because they are who they are.

And I get pissed off at Joe Torre more than anybody. Because he sits in his seat and doesn’t get off his duff and have any conversations with anybody. And they go down the tubes.

You see [Detroit Tigers Manager Jim] Leyland, he’s like a cat in a cage, right? And man, everybody’s up. Right or wrong?

What makes the difference? Being smart? Or being in the game playing full out? Playing to win. Not like you deserve to win. Like you’re going to. The Yankees are in trouble. Big trouble. And the reason why is their attitude. Is that clear? Like when they win the game by one run AFTER they put themselves in the position of being behind.

You never put yourself in that position. Are you clear? You never put yourself behind. Being in your own business, or being a successful employee, you have some competition, but it’s not like you’re in the playoffs. It’s not like it’s the last game of the season. You play 160 some games, you win 90 something games, like unbelievable, and you’re going to get knocked out? Jerks! Can you get it or not? That’s being arrogant.

Why am I saying this? It’s all made up. It’s not like what you believe it to be. It is what you say it is. Is that clear? You could win. Stop giving up. Stop quitting. You are not entitled to anything. Stop operating the way you’re operating. You’re operating in a particular way. Get that? A lot of times you want to quit. We all want to quit!! But the game is, play the game 100% with no arrogance or entitlement.

Learn more about Richard Giannamore's programs on how to win at life at www.roadtoriches.com.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The Yankees play to win. You know how you can tell? It’s funny, all of a sudden they’re on a winning streak, they get a nine-win winning streak, and then they lose. But here’s the thing: They’re trying to get the balls, diving through the air, missing. Which is fine, as long as you’re diving through the air trying to get the ball.

Now how would you like to go flying through the air and fall flat on your face and not catch the ball and you bounce a couple of times and then you got to get up with how many millions of people looking at you?

Not you. You’ll look good trying to make believe you’re getting the ball without looking bad. That’s the way you’re playing. Is that clear?

If you’re going to play where you play, you can’t win. Impossible. You’ve got to be playing to win.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Now the Yankees have a pitcher named Farnsworth. Six foot something. Pretty strong guy, young. He can throw the ball 98 mph. That’s fast. 92 mph is fast. 98 is even faster. He can throw the ball unbelievable. Every time he comes in about the seventh inning. Every time they put him in the game, he walks people. His walk ratio is pathetic.

Every time they put him in the game I go: NO GODDAMN WAY! DON’T PUT HIM IN THE GAME! Why? I know what he’s going to do. He’s going to walk the guys. And what do you think is going to happen? They’re going to lose the game. Sure enough, I’m watching the game, they put him in and walk, walk, walk, the bases loaded. They lost the game. I can’t believe it.

Now here’s the important thing to know: Do you know why the guy walks all these people? He doesn’t want them to hit the ball. So what do you think he does? He has no faith in the people out in the field. If they hit the ball the team will get it. He won’t throw the ball across the plate. He wants the batters to swing at balls that are outside.

Think about that. You’re a professional. You’re going to get up to bat, and he’s going to give you nothing but bad pitches to hit. You’re going to wait and you’re going to walk. That’s what he does. All the time. And every once in a while they go talk to him and they go, “throw it across the plate. You’ve got nine guys.”

And they walk back. He’ll throw one across the plate, and then the other ones go off. No confidence. This is a guy that should be getting the Cy Young Award. He doesn’t believe in that his team is behind him. Throw the goddamn ball.

Is that clear? Where are you playing?

If you’re going to play, if you’re a pitcher, you play to get them out. I don’t care how you get them out. You know what I’m saying? It doesn’t mean you have to get a strike out every time. I need to get him to hit the ball so that we get him out.

Anybody hear of Rivera? He throws the ball. Ninth inning comes in he saves the game. Guess why. He throws the ball, they hit the ball, it’s always on the ground, they pick it up, throw it out at first. Out one, out two, out three.

Not Farnsworth. He’s going to throw 8,000 balls an inning. Then he gets himself in a position where he has to throw it across the plate. Last time it was a home run, they cleared the bases. Grand slam. I get so mad.

Where are you playing? Are you throwing or are you pitching? What are you doing when you’re up there? What are you doing when you’re the pitcher? What are you doing when you’re the hitter? How are you playing?

If you’re pitching, you’ve got to throw sinkers. You’ve got to throw sliders. You’ve got to throw fastballs. You’ve got to throw the changeups. You’ve got to be willing to do that. You’ve got to be at risk. Every time you throw that ball you’re at risk. They may hit it out of the park. But that’s the game. What am I going to do, throw it outside? And then I get myself into a situation I’ve got to put it across the plate. Every time, home run.

So, in life, you throw a curve ball. You throw a sinker. You throw a fastball. You throw a changeup. You never throw the same ball. You’ve got to be at risk.